System Update: How Civilization VI will change the storied franchise

Through five iterations of Sid Meier's empire-building PC game, the Civilization franchise has challenged gamers to carefully construct their nation, managing everything from religion to government to military.

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Now, all that nation-building is about to make gamers think just a little more carefully. When Civilization VI arrives this October, it will bring with it new levels of nuance. Developer Firaxis Games showed off these changes in a recent 150-turn demo, and the new game fills in many of the blanks that you never realized the franchise had.

The Civ franchise has long been a deep experience, but it's always had blanks. After you've established your people, you can often slip into an autopilot brand of play, researching technologies, building units and harvesting resources without every truly thinking until the endgame.

There are fewer such dead spots in Civ VI. Firaxis entwines its gameplay elements in new ways, creating new opportunities to grow your nation faster, and more varied gameplay experiences.

This is most noticeable in the form of research boosts. These are essentially mini-quests that can accelerate certain research projects if performed during those projects. You may be tasked with founding a city while researching Sailing, for example, or uncovering a rock quarry while researching Mining.

Boosts finally remove boredom from Civ's Tech Tree. For years, the Tech Tree has been fun, but it's been a largely linear experience; sure you could research techs out of order but, by and large, there were limited ways you could truly influence that research progress.

Civ VI now lets individual gamers do that in their own ways. Ignore research boosts at your own peril, but by researching techs with available boosts, you can more speedily evolve as a nation.

The interplay between boosts and the environment promises to make individual playthroughs of Civ VI more varied and entertaining, too. Many boosts are related to the world map, so the nation that begins near the coast could develop very differently from the nation that opens in the mountains. Such decisions add deeper thought to that opening-game move, when you settle your first city — if you’re willing to think that far ahead.

The interplay between city-states and countries has also seen drastic change. City-states have long offered quests in the franchise, chances to gain friendliness with your nation, but often you could largely ignore these, unless you were trying to gain influence in the World Congress.

A scene from Civilization VI (Firaxis Games)

Don't do that this time around. City-states are no longer interchangeable, each offering independent bonuses to such things as research and gold accumulation. Even better, by growing your influence with a city-state, you eventually pay to use that city-states military during wartime.

That's a valuable asset, and a uniquely dangerous one that forces you to keep an eye on all city-states near you. An enemy nation could befriend a city-state close to you, instantly creating an army near your capitol.

Add in the more varied city-building experience that Civ VI revealed in June, and several other features (including more capricious leaders of other nations, and hidden motivations for those leaders), and you have the makings of a Civ game that should be far more diverse than any before it. Just as importantly, the new gameplay elements should add to replay value, letting the environment and your decisions play more key roles in the development of your nation.

Watch for Civ VI come October.

NINTENDO FIGHTS BACK WITH BACK-TO-SCHOOL DEALS

Nintendo hasn't generated quite as much buzz as rival game giants Microsoft and Sony this year, but the makers of Super Mario do have a few tricks on their sleeve, aggressively targeting the back-to-school crowd.

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That's the aim behind a series of deals set to launch in late August. A cheaper New Nintendo 3DS bundle that includes Super Mario 3D Land preinstalled highlights things, retailing $149.99 (a $50 price drop) and including a pair of detachable faceplates. The bundle will retail exclusive at Target and Wal-Mart.

Nintendo also announced that a series of titles on both the 3DS and Wii U — including The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Super Mario 3D World — are moving to Nintendo Selects category, meaning a $19.99 price point. As well, the company is pushing its amiibo figurines more this holiday, with new Wii U amiibo bundles for $39.99 each.